ISI students start nonprofit for healthcare providers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) – Students from the International School of Indiana have started a nonprofit organization called “Safer With A Gown,” or SWAG, to help support efforts against COVID-19. The team of six students from Indiana and California have created an online platform where individual users can download patterns and instructions to make gowns that can be donated to medical facilities.

Four of the founding students attend Indianapolis-based ISI: Norah Hempstead, Tobias Schamberger, Caitlyn Hempstead, and Amelia Schamberger. The organization says the Butler University Theater Department helped create and digitize the gown patterns.

The DIY gowns can be sewn from any clean materials available at home, like unused fabric or sheets. After the gowns are sewn, users can safely donate the gowns to a local clinic or send them to the SWAG organization for distribution.

“These isolation gowns are important for protecting the clothing of healthcare workers from droplet contamination, particularly since we know that the virus can survive on some surfaces for up to 72 hours,” said Dr. Deanna Willis, professor of family medicine at the IU School of Medicine and ISI parent.

The organization says they are grateful for healthcare workers and SWAG was developed to support their efforts by providing isolation gowns to wear when taking care of patients.